Appendix C: Summary of Write-in Survey Responses by Respondent Type

Users of Public Reports of Hospital Quality: Who, What, Why, and How?

Note: Only questions with write-in responses are included below. Responses are recorded verbatim, with no edits or corrections, except to redact organizational names for privacy.

Patient Respondents

1) What best describes you? I am a:

Description	All Web Sites
	n=406
	Count	%
Patient (or I might become one)	406	100.0%

4) What was the primary purpose of your visit to the Web site today? To:

Purpose	All Web Sites
	n=240
	Count	%
Choose the best hospital or compare hospitals	50	20.8%
See how good a specific hospital is	52	21.7%
Prepare for a talk with a doctor	10	4.2%
Get information for my family or friends	16	6.7%
Learn about a particular disease	2	0.8%
Get practical information about a hospital	10	4.2%
Find out how much one would have to pay at a hospital	7	2.9%
General interest in Web site content	9	3.8%
Other	25	10.4%
Missing	59	24.6%

he "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	Compare Doctors offices
2	Find new provider/IPA
3	[STATE AGENCY] update E-mail
4	Become more informed as part of involvement in Health Incentives Program
5	Compare doctors
6	Directed to it—Quality Care
7	Educational
8	Emergency pain relief
9	File a complaint form or find out who to speak to for poor quality of care
10	Find a new physician
11	Find out about my doctor
12	Get credit for healthy incentive requirement
13	Health requirement
14	How to efficiently find an internist with a second board certification
15	Learn about infection rates
16	Locate a doctor
17	Look for electronic document delivery options
18	Obtain primary care phy
19	See how local clinics rate
20	See how my doctor is rated
21	See may doctor's rating—but they are not listed
22	Serious complaint
23	Surveys
24	To complain about [FACILITY]
25	[WEB SITE] requirement

6) Did you have other reasons (in addition to the primary reason above) for your visit today? To:

Reasons	All Web Sites
	n=240
	Count	%
Choose the best hospital for myself or compare hospitals	39	16.3%
See how good my hospital is	49	20.4%
Prepare for a talk with my doctor	15	6.3%
Get information for my family and friends	20	8.3%
Learn about a particular disease	7	2.9%
Get practical information about a hospital (phone number, location)	11	4.6%
Find out how much I would have to pay at a hospital	2	0.8%
No, I had no other reason	67	27.9%
Other	11	4.6%
Missing	63	26.3%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	Compare c-section rates
2	Look for best clinic for colonoscopy
3	Looking around
4	Find c-section rate
5	To try an understand/learn the coverage better so I can help by not being a over bearing patient
6	Maternity care information
7	To complain about [FACILITY]
8	Check out your Web site as a future resource
9	Healthy incentive program
10	Fresearch Dr who provided care, obtain procedure to file complaint, obtain medical records to transfer
11	Just to find out what kinds of information is available on both hospitals and doctors.

7) What medical conditions are you looking for information about today?

Medical Condition	All Web Sites
	n=256
	Count	%
Heart disease (for example, heart attacks or heart failure)	57	22.3%
Surgery (for example, hip or knee replacement, or gallbladder surgery)	51	19.9%
Obstetrics and gynecology (for example, having a baby)	17	6.6%
Pediatric conditions	6	2.3%
Cancer	23	9.0%
Asthma	11	4.3%
Pneumonia	11	4.3%
None of the above	59	23.0%
Other	37	14.5%
Missing	61	23.8%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	Mammogram
2	Arthritis & Fibromyalgia/Cholesterol
3	Hospital infections
4	Irregular heart beat
5	Colonoscopy
6	General Practitioners
7	Any
8	Swelling
9	Angioplasty—renal
10	Saw the Web site in a news letter—thought I would check it out.
11	Allergies
12	Psychiatric outpatient
13	Colorectal
14	Colonoscopy
15	Hypertension
16	Family Med; Foot
17	Orthopedics
18	Infection rates
19	Knee x-ray
20	General
21	Appointment
22	Allergies
23	COPD
24	Wellness
25	Strokes
26	Arthritis
27	General Practice/Gastroenterology
28	Osteoporosis
29	Bowel obstruction and DVT
30	Health care professional Ratings
31	Orthopedic
32	Diabetes, womens care
33	Gestational diabetes
34	Hernia surgery
35	Immunizations
36	Graves disease
37	Osteoporosis

8) What types of information about hospital care are you looking for today?

Types of Information	All Web Sites
	n=256
	Count	%
How often complications or errors occur	78	30.5%
How often infections occur	59	23.0%
How patients rate their care (for example, how many patients would recommend the hospital)	103	40.2%
How often patients survive	43	16.8%
How often patients get the correct care (for example, how many stroke patients get the right medicine)	79	30.9%
None of the above	47	18.4%
Other	20	7.8%
Missing	63	24.6%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	Cost
2	Employment
3	Price
4	Vback rates
5	Costs
6	What hours they were available
7	Scans
8	Patient satisfaction
9	Am I giving my Dr's the best or correct information to help them solve my problems?
10	Insurances accepted
11	Over riding doctors
12	Price
13	Phone
14	Finding blood clots before there are a problem, would of like to hear about the food served. I know that's shallow but I'm going to be in your care for days.
15	What options are available in the delivery room, what the delivery room looks like
16	Help in finding a good Dr. that treats Osteoporosis Patients. Right now I must travel to [HOSPITAL] and I am looking for a good local doctor.
17	Doctors
18	Stress test pricing
19	All of the above
20	How honest you are about patients complaints

10) Why are you unlikely to use the information to choose a hospital?

Reasons	All Web Sites
	n=77
	Count	%
I do not have a choice of a hospital	12	15.6%
I do not need to choose a hospital or change hospitals at this time	28	36.4%
The information provided is not specific to my personal health condition	17	22.1%
Other factors are more important in my decision making	11	14.3%
The information provided does not cover the specific hospital I want to know about	4	5.2%
The information provided did not seem trustworthy	4	5.2%
The information is confusing or difficult to understand	20	26.0%
Other	9	11.7%
Missing	2	2.6%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	The contact number is incorrect
2	Information was not specific enough, nor did it cover the kinds of conditions I was looking for
3	A HMO patient
4	Saw the Web site in a news letter—thought I would check it out.
5	Need to visit site later
6	Survey popped up BEFORE I cd get any info; IF yours is like [AGENCY]'s, then it's meaningless to me
7	I have always chosen [HOSPITAL] because it is very close to home and is the best of the hospitals.
8	No info on hospitals in my area
9	Does not speak directly to doctor expertise

12) What additional information would make the Web site more useful? More information about:

Additional Information	All Web Sites
	n=251
	Count	%
How well the hospital treats my specific medical condition	90	35.9%
How well the hospital does my specific surgery or procedure	73	29.1%
How much I would pay	53	21.1%
Practical aspects of the hospital (for example, phone number, location)	21	8.4%
Comments from people who have been patients at the hospital	65	25.9%
Hospitals that are not currently on the Web site	21	8.4%
Individual doctors within a hospital	90	35.9%
Other	14	5.6%
Missing	74	29.5%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	All hospitals in [CITY] are rated equally, so not helpful
2	Wider variety of tests covered
3	By age group—hospitals for children
4	Compare hospitals
5	Sharing confidence Is the Doctor hearing me Am I hearing the Doctor
6	More doctors included
7	Oncology
8	More specific information about doctors expertise and results
9	Alternatives to dispensing meds (e.g. asthma management)
10	I loved the Web site, but I think there should be more info on what the delivery rooms are like would be helpful
11	All
12	COMPARISON OF CHARGES HOSPITAL TO HOSPITAL
13	Include CNMs in the stats
14	None

13) What would make the Web site easier to use for you?

Suggested Improvments	All Web Sites
	n=251
	Count	%
Provide a different way of searching the Web site	30	12.0%
Provide a different way of sorting the results on the Web site	41	16.3%
Make the information easier to understand (for example, fewer technical terms)	34	13.5%
Make it easier to find the best hospital	29	11.6%
Require fewer clicks to get information that I want	24	9.6%
Other	18	7.2%
Missing	127	50.6%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	No improvement needed
2	I had trouble finding the [NAME] hospital. There are too many different ways to say it, and zip code search retrieves too many hospitals.
3	None
4	Better explanation of terms
5	How hospitals compare
6	More inclusive of medical profession
7	List rated items differently
8	Info on more conditions
9	No changes necessary
10	Compare to other hospitals in the area
11	Too lengthy, confusing
12	Just make it better all around
13	Difficult to use and understand what to do to get info needed
14	Type in questions not presented as options
15	It's fine the way it is
16	Instead of just saying all hospitals have infection rates that are similar, provide infection % rates for each hospital. Isn't that required by law?
17	Update links
18	None

14) Please use this box to write any details about what would make this Web site more useful or easier for you to use.

#	Text Entered
1	This survey popped up BEFORE my 1st search had produced any results—so my responses could not be based on actual use of the site.2. I went here because [PROGRAM]'s [NAME] site appeared to review patient satisfaction rather than such quality measures as mortality, re-hospitalization, hospital-caused infections, or the much-praised "checklist" approach. I fear you don't do any of that, either. Although I of course don't know yet (see #1 above).3. Returning to the #1 issue above, it feels as if (1) your Web site is slow & (2) the delay I encountered may be attributable to my not having used the hospital name that's "official" or the one you use. Ick, alas.
2	Just trying to find out whether a current graduate student might be able to get an internship for the summer.
3	Being able to search
4	IT WOULD BE GREAT TO SELECT A PROCEDURE AND HOSPITALS (MORE THAN ONE) AND COMPARE THE COSTS.
5	FOR MY MOM HAVE A PNEUMONIA.
6	A comprehensive list of the insurances accepted and which providers/specialists are accepting those types of insurances.
7	Be able to type in doctor, facility or disease
8	I was not able to find specifics about back surgery
9	On the "Asthma medication" results, it is not at all clear what is being measured. Getting brownie points for prescribing meds is not a good performance measure when there are better management measures for many asthma patients. Good management of triggers, improved general health and avoiding meds are much better measures. I would never choose a medical practice based upon how many prescriptions they wrote for every day medication!
10	I would like to be able to see ALL of the results at one time and not have to click from Prevention to Heart Disease to Diabetes, etc. Then be able to see multiple clinics against one another.
11	Where do I go for help to find a local doctor that treats osteoporosis patients. My T-score is a -4.6. I am trying to stay strong and well.
12	Please remember to tread lightly with these as one person can DESTROY a reputation online for no good or even verifiable reason. The general public doesn't say "I had a kidney with ureal ccm/co" or whatever I read, they say I had an MRI and urine screen to determine the cause of my kidney pain. I understand the need for specific terms usage, but general public language should take presidence.
13	See comments above
14	It doesn't seem terribly well-organized. It seems to me that someone could sit down and re-think the organizational hierarchy. I think sometimes people get trained by one Web site to look for information in a certain way and when others don't follow that basic structure, the site seems counter-intuitive to them. Also, it might be helpful to mention, from the get-go that you focus on hospital-based care. I was looking for information on individual physicians. It would be nice if you would cover say, out-patient clinics at hospitals, social services available to patients and then maybe one day, someone will tell me how to find things like: a physical therapist who specializes in hand therapy and whose office is within 1/4 mile of a bus stop. Then they would be really useful...
15	Is the score the best or is the score the one that keeps it cheapest on my insurance company?
16	While statewide average is useful, there should also be a metro average. And these could each be compared with an "average by facility size" to make it more meaningful. Comparison with smaller outstate facilities skews the results in the metro. It also might be useful to compare the metro with another facility such as the [NAME] in [CITY] because of its size.
17	I would like to see more information on different conditions and the ways in which the hospital treats them. I suffered an AMI and conjestive heart failure, I need to know more. The information given was good but I need more since I am falling outside of the norm. I need to know why just one cause could put me in this shape.
18	No mention of either of my specialty doctor office who have plenty of practitioners. Not good not bad not mentioned.
19	Provide information about how hospitals are incorporating suggestions from organizations like the CDC, etc.
20	Also was interested in seeing vaccine rate for youth
21	Questions here are about HOSPITALS, yet the site also addresses Medical Groups (Physicians). How am is survey recipient supposed to know whether you mean Hospital specifically or as an odd synonym for all things medical?
22	Broader health issues
23	I think it would be helpful to have a bar graph for each hospital with the bars representing quality at a particular service, or value at a particular service.
24	In the past, I've been able to search for doctors, hospitals & IPA's, but now I can't find how to. I've requested twice within the last 2 hrs, a directory, but still haven't received the E-mail.
25	The drop-down menus were confusing. The whole database seems biased in favor of [HEALTH PLAN]. A lot of places have no date. I think it's not a reliable source to compare services because there is too little information. I don't care about t
26	Each search field should be able to accommodate more than one type of search, e.g., city, hospital name, etc.
27	More information about how the hospitals are ranked. Feedback from "users" of the services.
28	Although this Web site didn't have the specific information I was looking for, it was very helpful and easy to use
29	I was looking for information about how my medical group in [CITY] rated, but found nothing.
30	I have no idea what comprises average, below average or above average care. Also, I have no idea if there is added health benefit to above average care. Also, I think there are too many choices in general these days, too many surveys, too many businesses that are in business solely to make money in a hot field. Years ago, I didn't have to see who is the best at what because businesses typically had a vested personal interest in their services, not just a monetary interest or "professional" interest—how can I open up the most offices and franchise my business. Now, you have businesses opening with little regard for the customer, poorly trained personnel, authentic customer service out the window.
31	I wanted to see if the [LOCATION] Clinic had participated in the data measurements. I could not find that information.
32	I would like to see more comprehensive information on the clinics.
33	It would be useful to know how many of the listed physicians will accept new medicare patients.
34	This might be the poorest Web site I have ever been on. I simply wanted to see how my doctor rated in how she is treating my current medical issues, and found that by accessing this Web site I learned absolutely nothing. My interests were in what criteria was being used to rate these doctors and what information was being sent to doctors in regard to improving quality of care and seen in the eyes of [HEALTH PLAN] as an insurer. Does not seem like [HEALTH PLAN] really cares about either the doctor, patient, or hospital as long as its Web site meets [HEALTH PLAN]'s agenda for driving up costs.
35	Your county search does not appear to work
36	I having 30+ years in Computer experience found your Web site page links working very well. Good PDF files to scan thru. Video's to access. I have piles of Handbooks an referal papers cluttering areas of my desk and your Web site much easier to search through, Not everyone has my advantage being able to throw together parts from none working computers to make working ones to have this access so the Paper Handbooks/referals etc are a nessity but you could save some by offering this alternative before spending & sending. Thanks for all your help!
37	It was confusing that the ratings in a particular category were for only one specific element or attribute asked about—I thought I would get an overall rating in the main area and then it should have been more clear how you could drill down to the specific attributes that were rated to make up that overall rating.
38	When going from one screen to the next, it would be much better if the facility sequence sort order chosen by the viewer were retained.
39	Actually, this is a highly effect site. Well done. I am sure that over time you will amplify the data to include more specific information, but on my first visit... I am impressed.
40	It is often difficult to find Doctors who actually listen to the patient ... after all we have been living in our bodies for many years and know how it works better than they do in a quick exam.
41	If there was a way to compare outcomes by hospital, I didn't see it.
42	I found the Web site to be very user friendly.
43	The site is limited to only a few conditions and it is too generic. It is not useful to me at al
44	Rate all hospitals by specialty surgeries
45	I was looking for information on statistics for hospital-acquired infections...how many at each facility. Not sure if that information is available to the public or not, but would like it to be.
46	How do the various doctors AND institutions comparatively rate for Preventative Care? What's the difference(s) between "Family Practice" & "Internal Medicine" doctor categories?
47	Make it easier to compare hospitals in different regions.

21) What type of health insurance do you have?

Type of Health Insurance	All Web Sites
	n=236
	Count	%
Private insurance (i.e., from your employer or purchased by you)	116	49.2%
Medicare	36	15.3%
Medicaid	1	0.4%
No insurance	4	1.7%
I don't know	0	0.0%
Other	7	3.0%
Missing	72	30.5%

The "Other" category in the table includes the following answers from respondents:

#	Text Entered
1	COBRA (PPO)
2	Medicare Advantage
3	Medicare plus a supplement
4	[PRIVATE HEALTH PLAN]
5	Tricare
6	Medical
7	Three coverages

Page last reviewed December 2011

Internet Citation: Appendix C: Summary of Write-in Survey Responses by Respondent Type: Users of Public Reports of Hospital Quality: Who, What, Why, and How?. December 2011. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://archive.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/quality-resources/value/pubreportusers/pubusersapc.html